13 Comments
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Rory Truex's avatar

Thanks all for the feedback and engagement, just wanted to second Edi's post that perspectives from folks in China, both Chinese and non-Chinese, are really important these days. I haven't been able to go to China for many years now because of some health issues in my family, and so I feel increasingly out of touch with the place. Your criticisms here are well taken and I always appreciate being corrected if I've gotten things wrong. Thanks for reading.

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Mike Casey's avatar

Great read! Feel free to reach out if you ever want to talk about the Chinese military. https://open.substack.com/pub/ordersandobservations?r=7dx7&utm_medium=ios

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Think Or Swim's avatar

Great read, thanks for doing this!

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Ivan Encinas's avatar

Great piece! And interesting to see how various China-focused thinkers view the tariffs.

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Paul Dotta's avatar

Great read, good questions and answers! Hey, I live in China, why not throw my inexpert opinion into the ring? Its the cycle of life, this bilateral trade couldn't go on growing forever. The cultural differences alone apply enough pressure to guarantee that. China's future prosperity is in it's own hands, as the US controls its own destiny. Sounds great, but now face those decisions and that's a lot harder. 🙏

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Edi Obiakpani-Reid's avatar

Thanks for your comment and your thoughts Paul 😊 In the future I will probably be doing a post with people living in China, so looking forward to hearing your thoughts then too!

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Paul Dotta's avatar

I will look for it. 🙏

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Todd Cornell 康鸿熹's avatar

The first words that pop into my head are simple, and direct from the bowels of the Chinese psyche; 知己知彼 Know self, know others. And, it flies right over our heads! ✈️

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Nana's avatar
May 1Edited

I feel like some of these people don't have the full picture of what the average Chinese citizen concerns themself with. From my personal experience, working for a Chinese manufacturing company that supplies goods to various countries, many Chinese people are actually completely trusting that China will come out a "winner" from the active trade war.

I would also like to know how many of these experts have been to actual factories in China?

Moreover the notion that the "American worker was effectively screwed over by globalization" is a an interesting one for sure. You mean to say that people living in the richest country on earth have been screwed over by the very system they implemented themselves? How odd.

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Edi Obiakpani-Reid's avatar

Fair questions for sure. I'm not sure how many of them have been to factories per se, but all of them have lived, worked and/or travelled extensively in China (I would hesitate to call anyone who hasn't an expert). As such, they're approaching the issue from their own perspective using their own knowledge and experience, much like yourself. As you say, the people you know in manufacturing are confident, but I wonder if the same can be said for those who work in finance or diplomacy for example? I'm sure there are many in China who have diverse opinions, but to play devil's advocate, I was asking the writers what they thought, not what they thought other people thought.

The format is also fairly limiting, and doesn't portray the full extent of their knowledge or expertise. I highly recommend checking out their other writing for more nuanced views!

(As a non-American I will reserve my comments on the globalisation issue 👀)

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M Blu's avatar

Compared with these "experts"

I would suggest talking to taxi drivers.

These here just demonstrate their prejudices: boring.

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Alex Castaldo 卡亚立's avatar

Taxi drivers in whic country usa or prc ?

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M Blu's avatar

Sorry, I was thinking of David Fishman (@pretentiouswhat ) and his insightful discussions with Chinese taxi drivers. I am often surprised how much more I learn from these than from "experts" - especially considering how successful NGOs have shaped narrations that have nothing to do with realities on the ground.

Consider me a sceptic.

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